Man denies taking part in robbery

By
SEAN FORD

A MAN who pleaded not guilty to aggravated armed robbery of a North-West roadhouse chose to give evidence yesterday.

A MAN who pleaded not guilty to aggravated armed robbery of a North-West roadhouse chose to give evidence yesterday.

Elias Maffeking Kefalianos denied that he had taken part in the armed robbery of the Ridgley Roadhouse in January last year.

Being cross-examined by crown prosecutor Jody Dennison in the Supreme Court, in Burnie, Mr Kefalianos denied he was at the store when the robbery took place.

He denied the prosecutor's suggestion that he pointed a firearm at one of the workers and told her to open the safe.

He also denied the suggestion he took money from the till, planned the robbery with another man - Christopher Stanley - and that he entered the store with a T-shirt on his head leaving only his eyes exposed.

"I wasn't there," Mr Kefalianos said. Earlier, he gave evidence about a series of car trips on the West Coast, the North-West, the North and the South of the state.

Being questioned by defence counsel Greg Richardson, Mr Kefalianos gave evidence he had driven to Zeehan in a borrowed Holden Commodore, planning to pick up his own Commodore from the Strahan police station. He said he stayed with Mr Stanley at Zeehan and Mr Stanley drove him to Strahan.

Mr Kefalianos then gave evidence about what Mr Richardson described as a "procession" of three Commodores driving to the North-West with the belongings of Mr Stanley and his partner, who Mr Kefalianos said were moving to the North-West.

Mr Kefalianos said his car broke down and he stayed with it near the Murchison Highway after a tow rope broke and he argued with Mr Stanley.

Mr Kefalianos said a man stopped, repaired the rope and they towed the car away from the highway where it could not be seen and he started walking towards Burnie.

He said he was picked up by friends and taken to Burnie, then went on to Wynyard.

He was arrested some days later and police found a shotgun in a green Camry that Mr Kefalianos said belonged to his partner.

He said he found it under a seat when he was cleaning mess out of the car, made sure it was not loaded and put it on the passenger seat with cartridges in it.